35-Year-Old Mars Bar Found During House Clearance Is 22.5g Heavier Than Today's
Mars Bar from 1991 found – and it's 20g bigger than today's
A 35-year-old Mars Bar with a best-before date of 1991 was discovered during a house clearance in Scunthorpe, UK. The finder, Victoria Gordon, posted a photo showing the 62.5g bar next to a modern 40g one, sparking a viral debate about shrinkflation. Mars responded that bar sizes have changed over the years due to consumer demand and manufacturing costs.
It was nearly as big as my hand, which was kind of why I noticed it.
- smolder
Shrinkflation is all over. Burger buns at fast food places were more dense 20 years ago. The small burgers had 1/8th pound patties instead of the current 1/10th pound. It's hard to find a product that hasn't gotten worse or more expensive, even adjusted for inflation.
- ornornor
> A Mars spokesperson said: "Over the last 35 years, we have made a number of updates to our bar sizes and pack formats to reflect consumer demand, alongside considering wider external factors such as manufacturing costs and the price of cocoa."
I can guarantee you this is not “consumer demand”. Nobody goes to the store thinking “I wish shrinkflation was even more prevalent and that I’d get even less for my money”. Screw you corporate BS PR department, you’re not even trying.
- pavlov
I was surprised to learn the Mars bar familiar from my childhood wasn't a product of the original American corporation Mars Inc.
Frank Mars founded the American company. His son Forrest invented Milky Way, but then eventually quarreled with his dad and was removed from the business. Forrest moved to England, founded his own company, and the Mars bar was his first product: a European version of Milky Way.
Later he inherited the original American business and merged the UK one into it.
- teolemon
We're tracking prices and packaging for food since 2012 at Open Food Facts, and we have a food archeology project:
https://wiki.openfoodfacts.org/Project:Archeology
https://world.openfoodfacts.org/open-food-facts-mobile-app
Feel free to add what you have in your attic ;-)
- TheAtomic
Food reporting is often framed like this, as if the smaller size was a bad thing, or the price / gram, pound or ounce is the relevant criteria. Esp in the case of candy, you would think smaller sizes would satisfy the other framing for food items, esp in America, that over-sized food leads to obesity. It is a lose-lose framing, with nutritional value completely ignored. Instead, the reporting is always how people are being ripped off or making an unhealthy choice.
- peezd
What a world we live in, that someone finding a 35 year old candy bar while cleaning out a hoarder's house gets its own tier 1 news article.
- atleastoptimal
Basically any "brand name" product which isn't either family owned or privately run by an extremely idealistic founder/CEO ends up getting predictably worse over time. Once some private equity fund buys you out and determines you are not on the quality/price Pareto frontier and can manage to lose only .8% of your revenue making your product .9% cheaper, the die is already cast.
- agenticworldcup
I sometimes think they even tasted better "back in the day". But not sure if its just kid tastebuds being new, VS current taste buds being critical.
- drtz
Reducing the portion size for junk food is probably a good thing. This is a rare case where shrinkflation may actually be beneficial to all parties.
- OldSchool
I am always reminded at a convenience store if I pick up a candy bar that some of my earliest memories include them costing 5 cents in the early 1970s that very quickly became 10 cents and by the late 70s, maybe 25 cents max for a standard size. Today, easily 10x this.